


Shot Through The Heart

by Kittendiamore



Series: the assassin au [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, M/M, Murder, Violence, etc - Freeform, vaguely mr & mrs smith au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 03:36:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17859500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittendiamore/pseuds/Kittendiamore
Summary: (Various extra scenes and side stories for the assassin au)





	1. Room Service

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on tumblr [@nikanndros](https://nikanndros.tumblr.com/)

“Room service!” Damen calls, knocking on the door. He tries his best not to sound like a character in a porno, but also he’s never done the room service bit before and it totally makes him want to sound like a character in a porno.

Room 503, Mr Paul Williams, opens the door slowly. “You’re different to the last guy,” he says, cautious.

“Yes,” Damen replies. “Sometimes people have days off. Can I bring your food in for you?”

Williams considers this. Damen likes to think he looks pretty un-intimidating in his waiter’s outfit, but he’s also six foot six and owns a gym as a side business so…

Still, the chain gets unlocked and the door opens. “Hurry,” Williams says. He’s jumpy. Damen probably would be too if he’d already had three botched assassination attempts against him. There won’t be a fourth because Damen never botches a job.

“Can I pour your wine for you?” Damen asks.

Williams jumps when Damen faces him. He looks like he’s just realised exactly how tall his waiter is. Damen smiles reassuringly, and then he pulls the gun out of the ice bucket and puts two shots into Williams’ heart.

-

A few minutes later and Damen is stepping into the lobby. Waiter outfits are great because one: no one cares enough to actually notice a waiter, and two: take off the vest and tie, and undo a few buttons and suddenly you’re just a hotel guest. It’s good to leave casually after you commit a murder, so Damen dallies a bit, winks at the receptionist, glances over at the hotel bar and - holy shit.

He’s approaching the bar before he even thinks it through.

“What can I get for you, sir?” the bartender asks.

“Glenmorangie. The eighteen year old, three cubes of ice, thank you,” Damen says. “Also, a hendricks and tonic, slice of cucumber, for the hot blonde on the other side of the bar. Tell him it’s on me.”

The bartender does as told and Damen watches out of the corner of his eye as the man delivers the gin. Laurent looks down at the drink, purses his lips, and then looks directly at Damen.

Damen grins and gives him a little half wave.

Laurent’s expression doesn’t change. He turns away again, disinterested. True love is a beautiful thing.

That means it is Damen’s job to approach. He gets up and makes his way over. Laurent’s hair is sitting perfectly down to his shoulders; it looks even straighter and glossier than usual, almost as if he’s had it done professionally. Honestly the effort isn’t necessary, Laurent looks gorgeous even when he’s been in bed for three days with a virus.

“I thought I’d come over so you could thank me personally for the drink,” Damen says, leaning back against the bar.

“I didn’t ask for it,” Laurent replies, as if it hasn’t been his drink of choice for the whole time Damen has known him.

“That’s okay,” Damen says. “I’m sure I’ll get a chance to hear you pleading later tonight.”

Laurent is silent for a long moment. “Now that I know what you do for a living,” Laurent says finally, “that line is less sexy and more ominous.”

Damen smiles. “Hello, lover.”

“Hello. By your presence here, I’m guessing we were double booked.” It’s not a surprise that the employer would want a back-up option after so many botched jobs, but it is insulting to Damen’s company’s perfect success record.

“That wouldn’t be an issue,” Damen reminds him, “if we just joined the companies already.”

“Patience,” Laurent replies. “Auguste just wants you to sweat for a while before he agrees.”

“Please remind Auguste that he’s my brother in law, and I have no interest in getting sweaty with him.”

Laurent laughs, and the motion sets the lighting in a very flattering way upon his sharp cheekbones. Damen feels a little lightheaded. He’s been married to Laurent for two wonderful years, and the sight of his husband laughing still makes him weak at the knees. Then it occurs to Damen that there is only one reason why Laurent would be waiting at a hotel bar for his mark.

“Darling,” Damen says, slowly. “Are you playing a honey pot?”

“No,” Laurent answers, a little too quickly to be casual. Then he changes the subject, “I assume you got the job done, so let’s split up and meet at home later.”

Damen takes the chance to really look at his husband. He leans back to get a full view of the trench coat he’s wearing, buttoned black wool. The coat ends about midway down Laurent’s calves. When Damen looks back up, Laurent is flushed red and looking very pointedly away.

“Are you wearing,” Damen swallows, “nylons?”

Room 502, Mr Paul Williams, only really talks (sorry, talked) to two kinds of people - the hotel staff, and his lovers. Damen hadn’t been able to take the seduction route only because Williams had had a type. For beautiful young men with a touch of femininity to them. Damen privately suspects it’s a internalised homophobia thing - it’s not gay if they’re dressed like a woman, right?

Laurent clenches his jaw. “Clearly,” he says tightly, “you are well aware that I am.”

Laurent’s nails look nice too, short but properly filed.

“Those heels really bring out your calf muscles,” Damen tells him.

“I hate you so much,” Laurent says..

“Careful, baby,” Damen warns. “You don’t want to get your knickers in a twist.”

Laurent’s flush somehow becomes even more pronounced. And then he sighs. “Okay,” he says. “You can’t laugh at me for this, when you’re the one that’s getting all hot and bothered about it.”

“I’m not getting hot about it,” Damen lies. Although to be fair, Laurent could probably wear a trashbag and Damen would find it sexy. Laurent is just naturally sexy. It’s really commendable that Damen can ever find the willpower to leave their bed.

“Hmm,” Laurent hums, thoughtfully. Then, very deliberately, he shifts his position. The trench coat, it turns out, is unbuttoned from the top of Laurent’s thigh down. One elegant leg is fully revealed through the slit. Damen can see the taught elastic from women’s suspenders, attached to the sheer black stockings.

Damen, very suavely, accidentally tips expensive scotch down the front of his shirt. He barely feels it. “Sweet jesus,” he chokes out.

Laurent turns to face him fully, long eyelashes casting shadows. He puts a gentle hand on Damen’s thigh and leans into his space. “Do you want to know what else I have under this coat?” he purrs.

“Yes.”

“Several vials of poison,” Laurent states. He leans back again and then downs the remains of his drink in one, long swallow. “Mention this again,” he says, “and they’re going in your almond milk.”

Damen grins. “Promises, promises.”


	2. Pre-Wedding

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one pacing?” Damen asks, as he watches his best friend as he wears down the expensive, plush carpet under his feet.

“Maybe if you were the type of person to ever think about consequences,” Nik says, but he sounds more distracted than annoyed so Damen decides not to take offence. Besides, he likes that Nik always confides his honest opinion - even when it’s a terrible opinion that isn’t worth hearing.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Damen reassures him. “It’s going to be better than fine. It’s going to be amazing. Transcendent. Another positive descriptive word.” He squints at himself in the mirror. Is his tie straight?

Nik scoffs, and then he spins on his heel to face Damen. “Damen,” he says. “I love you.”

Damen smiles. “I love you too.”

“You’re my best friend,” Nik adds.

Damen puts a hand on his heart and pretends to wipe away a tear with the other. “Thank you.”

“You’re also an idiot.”

“That one was less nice,” Damen says. “If this is a practice run of your best man speech, please leave that one out.”

Nikandros makes a pained noise. “Damen, you’re about to make the biggest mistake of your life. I just want you to take two seconds to think through the consequences of what you’re doing.”

Damen gives him a confused look. “Nik, I’m marrying the love of my life.”

“You met in a war-torn country.”

Damen nods because that is true.

“Why was he even there?”

“…for work?” It’s not meant to sound like a question, but Nikandros has a way of interrogating people that makes you question everything you think you know.

“He co-owns a bar. Why was he there?”

“Laurent isn’t suspicious, Nik,” Damen says, holding his hands up placatingly. “You know you get a little paranoid sometimes. He was looking for new beers to import cheaply.”

“Have you even been to his bar?” Nikandros also likes to hit people with a torrential downpour of questions. He uses the strategy to throw people off their game, and make them defensive enough to make mistakes. It makes him a wonderful asset to the business. It also makes him an absolutely terrifying friend.

“Of course I have.”

“So you’ve seen the insane amount of security they have.”

That one isn’t a question, it’s an accusation. “We live in a dangerous city! It’s not weird to want to protect your own business. And there’s a lot of bar fights in that area.” Laurent has come home bruised quite a few times from kicking out unruly customers, and Damen worries about it but he always knows it’s his fiance’s pride and joy to work with his brother.

Nikandros sighs. “Listen, I asked Aktis to do some digging-”

“I told you not to do that,” Damen interrupts.

“And I told you to stop being an idiot. We don’t always get what we want. Look, the files on Laurent aren’t great.”

“I don’t want you to tell me this. It’s all private information that Laurent has a right to inform me of in his own time.”

“You’re literally getting married in an hour to someone you met two months ago.”

“Two and a half,” Damen corrects. “It’s romantic. We’re perfect for each other.”

“He has a history of violence,” Nikandros says. “He got expelled from three different schools, and had to be homeschooled when he was sixteen because no-one else would take him.”

Damen frowns. “He’s an orphan, Nik. It was hard for him.”

“His bar is the worst fucking venue I’ve ever seen, there’s no way he’s making a living from it.”

“He inherited a lot from his parents. Besides, I earn heaps; money doesn’t matter.”

Nikandros sighs. “Can you please just admit that it’s the smallest bit suspicious?”

The thing that Nikandros isn’t seeing, is that Laurent is a wonder. His life has been an insane mix of privilege and tragedy, and yet he’s come out of it as a resilient, kind young man with a wealth of intelligence and empathy. Damen was perfectly happy having one night stands and forgetting names, until the very day he met Laurent. He had known right away that they were soul mates. It sounds cheesy and stupid, but Damen is certain about exactly one aspect of his life - and it is that marrying Laurent could never be a mistake.

“Nik,” Damen says, and he puts a reassuring hand on his best friend’s shoulder because he knows Nikandros is not going to want to hear this. “I don’t care. I don’t care if he’s suspicious, or whatever you’re imagining. I’d love him even if he held a knife to my throat.”

“This is genuinely the most frightening thing you’ve ever told me,” Nik says, slowly.

Damen laughs. “I’m glad I have you to look out for me. But trust me on this one - I know Laurent. He’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met. I promise you, there’s no awful secret or anything like that going on. He’s just someone who needs a lot of love, and I’m going to give it to him.”

Nik considers this for a very long moment. And then he rolls his eyes and takes a step back. “Fine,” he says. “You win. I’ll stop researching him. But I’m keeping the part about you being an idiot in my speech.”

Damen grins. “Look at it this way,” he says. “Only one of us in the relationship is a murderer, and I’m pretty sure it’s not Laurent.”


	3. Auguste finds out

Laurent is very competent at what he does, almost as if he was born to be a murderer for pay. But that isn’t all that there is about him. He has other interests - like reading and fucking his husband. Another interest of his is Drama. Capitalisation necessary. He’d actually gotten kicked out of his drama group as a teenager for being ‘too dramatic’. Somehow.

Anyway, the point is, he’s a fucking great actor. So when he bursts into The Veretian Blind, with his hair a mess and tears in his eyes, everyone jumps to attention.

“Oh no,” Auguste says, and then he’s pulling Laurent into his arms. “What happened? Is he cheating?”

Auguste maneuvers them both onto a lounge, as Laurent is clearly too overcome with emotion to respond.

“I’m going to fucking murder him,” Auguste hisses, sounding truly violent.

“Calm down,” Jord says, a voice of reason. And then he pulls out a folder from seemingly nowhere that’s labelled ‘Damianos’. “I’ve had a plan to kill him in place ever since Laurent’s save the dates went out.”

“If that plan doesn’t involve me taking a baseball bat to his thick skull, revise it,” Lazar says, lazily.

“We’re going to take care of this for you, Laurent,” Auguste tells him.

“Yeah,” Orlant agrees. “We’re all here for you. Lazar, Jord, and Auguste can kill him, and I’ll be here for a shoulder to cry on…and/or rebound sex, whatever you need.”

Laurent looks up at Orlant. “Thank you,” he says, in the most sincere voice he can manage. “But you’d just disappoint me.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Auguste bursts out, suddenly. “Laurent, is that a hickey on your neck?”

Laurent wipes his eyes and sits up straight, giving Auguste a bright smile. “Yes,” he replies, “Among other bruises.”

Everyone looks at him in disbelief.

“What?” Laurent says defensively. “I have had a very emotionally harrowing twenty four hours, I had to ease the stress somehow. But no, Damen is not cheating on me. I just wanted to fuck with you all.”

Lazar grabs at his collar and tries to pull it down. Laurent hits him. Lazar whistles anyway. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Lazar grins, “but that bruise looks a little too hand shaped to be a hickey.”

Laurent doesn’t correct him, because well, he’s not wrong.

Auguste makes a pained noise. “Jord, give me that folder, I’m killing Damianos anyway.”

Jord actually hands it over. Laurent snatches it. “No,” he says, firmly. “I’m too young to be a widower, thank you.”

“If he’s not cheating on you,” Jord says, frowning. “What was his excuse?”

“He’ll be here in a second to explain.”

As if summoned, that’s when the door - the door that was locked behind Laurent, it’s past closing time - opens and in walks Damianos, casually tucking away his lockpicks.

“Sorry I’m late,” Damen says. “Have you explained already, babe?”

“That door should have been locked,” Auguste says, standing up. His hand is already reaching for the knife he keeps strapped to his thigh. Laurent grabs his hand to stop him.

“Good work, sweetheart” Laurent praises Damen, pushing Auguste back into his seat and moving around him so that Laurent can greet his husband. “You even stopped the alarms from going off.”

“You told me to let myself in when I got here,” Damen replies, sheepishly.

Laurent kisses him. “I know,” he purrs, “You did well.” Competence is hot.

“Uhhh,” Lazar lengthens the sound until he has everyone’s attention. “What the fuck?”

“Damen works for Ios,” Laurent announces. “He kills people.” And then he makes sure to step in front of his husband as everyone dives for their knives. Everyone except Auguste, that is.

Auguste just sits there, a look of utter betrayal on his face. “Laurent,” he says disbelievingly. “You married someone from Ios?”

“Not intentionally.”

“I spoke at your wedding!”

“To be fair,” Damen says. “You mostly just cried at our wedding. I couldn’t really understand what you were saying.”

“I cried because I was happy my brother was marrying someone who wasn’t a gun-toting savage! You work for Ios?!”

“Yes,” Damen says, evenly.

Auguste clutches his heart. Laurent definitely inherited his penchant for drama. “You’re supposed to be a vegetarian.” Auguste hisses.

“Can we please stop equating animal welfare to killing people? They’re both completely different things.” Laurent is going to start filming all the things Damen says one day, and then on their anniversary he’s going to present him with a montage entitled Proof You’re An Idiot. Except that’ll probably reflect badly on Laurent, as he’s the one who married said idiot.

“I feel sick,” Auguste says. He puts his head in his hands.

“I thought you were going to break this to them gently,” Damen chastises Laurent quietly.

“I was,” Laurent agrees. “But look at how much fun this is, instead. I think Jord’s going to actually cry.”

Damen takes a look at Laurent’s delighted expression and then shrugs, because he always humours Laurent’s terrible ideas in the end.

Laurent claps his hands together. “Great! Now that that’s settled. We should discuss a merger.”


	4. Nik finds out

“Hey Nik,” Damen says, grabbing a chair and pulling it over to his best friend’s desk.

Nikandros is scrolling through pages on his laptop, doing accounting or reconnaissance or something like that. The back room of Damen’s gym works well as a headquarters for the going-ons of his other, slightly more illegal business.

“What?” Nik says. He hates being interrupted.

“You know all that research on Laurent that you pretend you’re not doing?” Damen steals the chocolate bar off his desk and bites into it. “I want to see it.”

Nikandros looks at him for a long moment. “I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of such files. Is this a test, or do you finally think Laurent is worth looking into?”

“I just want to see what you have.”

Nik shrugs and then does some things to his computer before he turns it towards Damen. Damen looks through the files. They’re pretty thorough. School reports, his family’s birth and death certificates, there’s even a note from an old teacher who banned him from debate club. Damen smiles. Apparently teenage Laurent had a tendency to debate for the other team’s side when he agreed with their point of view.

“He got kicked out of his drama club too.” Nik is reading over Damen’s shoulder. “He tried to convince the teacher to let him light a real fire in a school play and then did it anyway after she said no. He also used to get other students to publically act out things like muggings to quote ‘see what people would do’.”

“Of course he did,” Damen says, and then he puts the laptop down and turns to Nik. “We need to find a better research team and tech guys.”

Nik frowns. “Ours are the best.”

“Clearly not,” Damen says, and it’s very hard to stop himself from smiling for this part. “If they couldn’t find out that Laurent works for Arles.”


End file.
